Warrior Veteran Support Center closing

The Warrior Veteran Support Center in Lovell will be shuttering its Main Street office on December 16. The non-profit organization has been in existence for 2 1/2 years, providing services during that time to 88 local veterans and literally hundreds more who felt comfortable stopping by to ask a quick question, get a referral or just to have a cup of coffee and chat with fellow veterans Les Files and Jim Blick.

The center is the brainchild of Files, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Army who started the center to help local veterans dealing with tasks like applying for benefits, getting placement in national cemeteries, folding flags properly and preparing wills, as well as referrals to other agencies and organizations that can better help them with a problem or issue.

“I opened the center in this rural area because veterans are here but resources for them are not,” explained Files.

For some, it’s just a matter of helping them get a copy of their discharge papers because they lost them, said Files. For others, it’s just a matter of explaining what a letter or document received from the VA means. For many, it’s the comfort of knowing there is someone available with a sympathetic ear and the skills to help navigate the complexity of the VA benefits system.

“Most veterans feel uncomfortable talking to civilians about this kind of stuff,” Files said. “There’s a certain way veterans speak to each other that’s different. I’ve had people stop by for coffee and talk about their war experience. A lot of times they discover what their needs are during that type of conversation.”

Files said he found the biggest need the veterans he’s worked with have is for information. He noted that most of the veterans he’s helped in the past few years have very limited computer skills to access the wealth of information available through the Internet. He said he spent much of his time researching options and helping his clients fill out paperwork and online forms.

The center, which operates on a very limited budget, is entirely funded by donations. Veterans are not charged for the service. 

Files said he personally finds it uncomfortable asking for contributions. 

“I just don’t want to be another person to ask others to gimme, gimme, gimme,” he said. “I hate to ask for money, so I’ve focused on fundraisers instead. We always try to give something back in exchange for the donation. This way people feel like they’re getting something back for helping.”

Files has relied on small fundraisers like raffles and bake sales and food sales to cover the costs of operating the center, which often falls short by as much as $700 every month.

He said the fundraisers have not yielded enough donations to pay for the basics required to keep the doors open like rent, phone and Internet services. No salaries are paid through the center’s modest budget. 

So far, Files said he has been hesitant to accept federal funds because he’d rather not be restricted by the narrow requirements and obligations that come with those funds. 

According to Files, the center has received only four donations this year. The last fundraiser raised only $155, making it not economically feasible to keep the doors open.

For Files, the military has always been a part of his life. He was raised in a military family, inspired by his father who served in the Air Force. 

Files was raised in Deering, N.D., near Minot Air Force Base. He enlisted in the military in 1984 as a combat engineer for the U.S. Army, leaving the Army in 1996.

He earned a teaching degree in social sciences at North Dakota State University and moved to Lovell in 2003, where he did student teaching at Lovell High School during the spring semester. While in Lovell, he enlisted in the Wyoming Army National Guard.

Files was deployed with the National Guard to Iraq in 2004-05 and moved to active duty in 2006 at Camp Williams, Utah, as an instructor at the base school. After three years in that role, he moved into unit support and was promoted to work in military intelligence, being deployed overseas in 2010-11. He continued to work in intelligence and unit support until his retirement in 2015, when he moved back to Lovell.

“The hard part for a lot of veterans when they get out of the military is the feeling they no longer have a purpose or a mission,” he said.

Files made it his purpose to assist other veterans, making himself available through the center 20-plus hours per week. He said he hopes to continue helping in some capacity even after the center has closed.

“I just wanted to do right by the veterans in this rural area,” he said. “Our mission here was to help veterans maintain and improve their quality of life. That’s been our focus, and I think we’ve been able to do that.”